The Coming Slaughter
of Christians
By Patrick Heron
I have had the
privilege of appearing on several hundred radio shows over
the past 12 years speaking about my books. I always try to
bring the conversation around to the Rapture and the truth
of the Word which states that the Lord will gather together
His church and take them to Heaven before the Apocalypse
proper begins. Invariably I receive emails from sincere
fellow Christians insisting that we are indeed to go through
the Great Tribulation and that I am a coward for not wanting
to accept this trial of faith.
I always reply with
Romans 5:9 where Paul states categorically that;
“We are saved
from the wrath to come.”
I point out also
that Paul repeats himself in 1 Thess. 1:10 and 5:9 where he
says Jesus has “rescued from the wrath to come” and that
“God hath not appointed us to wrath”. Quite conclusive I
would have thought. Especially so since Paul also assures
us, in Galatians 1:12, that these epistles are not his
words, but rather he received them by direct revelation from
Jesus Christ Himself.
Undeterred the
e-mailer writes back and says that, and this is a direct
quote here, “the true disciples of Jesus will be spared and
protected from evil during this terrible time”. I am sure
many of you will have experience of this same argument as
you debate this topic.
So is this the case?
Are we Christians really going to experience the horrors of
the Apocalypse but be saved through it as these post
Tribulationists insist? Let us go directly to the Word and
allow it speak for itself.
“If any is to go
into captivity, into captivity he will go. If any is to be
killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.”
Rev 13:10
“I saw the woman
was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those
who bore testimony to Jesus.” Rev 17:6
“In her was found
the blood of the prophets and of the saints.”
Rev 18:24
“And I saw the
souls of those who had been beheaded because of their
testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God.” Rev 20:4
“He was given
power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so
that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the
image to be killed.” Rev 13:15
It is glaringly
obvious that Christians are going to suffer ferocious terror
and death during the Apocalypse. And these verses are
speaking of committed Christians as it speaks of “those who
bore testimony to Jesus and to the Word of God”. These are
not wishy-washy believers who are being executed here. A
parallel passage speaking about the same time in the Book of
Daniel reiterates these awful truths.
“Those who are
wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by
the sword or be burned or captured or plundered.” Dan 11:33
Not only will
Christians be put to the sword, they will also suffer death
by burning. In chapter 13 of the Book of Isaiah we have
further prophecies concerning those who put their faith in
God and Christ during the Day of Tribulation. We know that
this is speaking of the Apocalypse as Isaiah states this is
referring to the “Day of Wrath” which is another name for
the Day of Vengeance, the Day of His Burning Anger, the
Cruel Day with Wrath, the Day of Jacob’s Trouble etc. This
is a very harrowing section but mature Christians need to
hear this so that we can warn others as to what is coming
down the tracks in the days ahead.
“Whosoever is
captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will
fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to pieces
before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their
wives ravished.”
Isaiah 13:15, 15, 18
It should be obvious
to anyone with eyes to see that Christians are going to be
hunted down, tortured, thrown into jail, beheaded and
slaughtered in great numbers during the time-frame we call
the Apocalypse. So that Christian believer who wrote to me
saying ‘the true disciples of Jesus will be spared and
protected during this terrible time,’ is plainly in error
and has not bothered to rightly divide the Word.
So, if we believers
in this time are to be ‘saved from the wrath to come’, then
who are those Christians who are to suffer such an horrific
holocaust and mass slaughter during the Day of Wrath? To
answer this conundrum we go to the words of the Lord Jesus
and His parable of the Ten Virgins.
“Then shall the kingdom of
heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps
and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were
wise and five were foolish.
They that were foolish took
their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil
in their vessels with their lamps.
While the bridegroom tarried,
they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a
cry made; “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet
him.”
Then all those virgins rose
and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise,
“Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.”
But the wise answered, saying,
“Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye
rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.”
And while they went to buy,
the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with
him to the marriage and the door was shut.
Afterward came also the other
virgins, saying; “Lord. Lord, open to us.”
But he answered and said,
“Verily I say unto you, I know you not.”
Watch therefore, for ye know
neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”
Matt 25:1-13 KJV
Let us take the last statement
first. We don’t know the day nor the hour that the Son of
man cometh. So Jesus is talking here about His coming. Thus
He is the bridegroom. When the call is made that His arrival
was imminent, the five wise virgins were to, ‘go ye out
to meet him’. These went with the bridegroom to the
marriage feast and the door was shut. When the unwise
virgins had returned, it was too late. They had missed the
boat. The horse had already bolted. The train had left the
station.
To my mind there is only one
explanation as to what Jesus was teaching in this parable.
He was talking about what Paul calls the gathering together
of the saints and our blessed hope. Many evangelicals call
this, the Rapture. It is clearly stated in 1 Thess. 4 that
the Lord is to return briefly and take out or catch away
those that have believed in Him. First, the dead Christians
since Pentecost are to rise and receive a new spiritual body
(like the body Jesus received when He rose from the dead)
and meet the Lord in the air. Then, those Christians who are
alive will be caught up to meet the Lord also in the air.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
He then takes His bride to the
place He has been preparing for them since His ascension
into heaven. He promised in John 14: 1-4, that He was going
to His Father’s house to prepare a place for His followers.
He added that He would return and bring them to this place
at a future date. So the parable of the 10 virgins is an
explanation of what is to happen when He returns to fulfill
this vow. Jesus will return in the air and His bride will go
out to meet Him. These are those Christians who have
accepted Him as their personal Lord and saviour. They have
their lamps trimmed and are ready.
On the other hand we have the
unwise virgins who are not ready. By the time they realise
what is happening, it is too late and they are left behind.
These are those who will turn to Jesus after the
gathering together, when they realise what has occurred. Let
me explain how this will happen. If we take the USA as an
example, it has roughly 300 million of a population. Many of
these proclaim they are born-again believers in Jesus
Christ. Let’s say half are Christian for arguments sake.
That means 150 million are not saved Christians as they have
not taken the step of accepting Christ as their personal
saviour.
But many, many of these 150
million non believers have heard of Jesus Christ and His
salvation message. They know about the Rapture, but they
choose to ignore it. They are well aware of much of the
teachings of Jesus because they hear about these, day in,
day out on radio and on TV. Many celebrities who are
Christians have spoken about their faith and of the imminent
Rapture and of the need to be ready. But these warnings are
ignored. So what will happen?
Picture this; you wake up one
morning and turn on the news and hear a most disturbing
bulletin. Millions of people from every corner of the world
have mysteriously vanished. You find it hard to believe, but
as news from around the world confirms this mass
disappearance, a shiver of foreboding and trepidation runs
through your body. You feel vulnerable, unsure and perhaps
alone. The realisation that the Rapture Christians spoke of
has happened hits you like a baseball bat. You feel nauseous
as the blood drains from your face and a dread fear creeps
into your stomach. A fear you know is going to remain for
some years to come. You are left on earth and you know that
the prophecies have come to pass and now you must face into
the woeful times talked about in the Apocalypse, along with
all those others who refused to heed the warnings. You are
part of those left behind. You drop to your knees and beg
God and Jesus to forgive you and help you. The dark night of
the soul has begun.
Huge amounts of people are going
to become Christian believers after the Great Tribulation
begins when they realise they have been left behind. These
are the unwise virgins of the parable. These Christians will
go through a horrific experience for the next several years.
Some scholars say the Apocalypse is to last seven years.
Others say three and a half. Either way it is going to be a
literal hell on earth for all who find themselves ensnared
in this demonic coliseum.
Thus we can see the meaning of
the parable of the ten virgins. Those who accept Jesus as
Lord in this present time, will be gathered together when
the Lord returns before the events of the Apocalypse begin
and before the Antichrist is released from his prison in the
pit of the Abyss. Those who realise they are stuck in the
web of the Great Tribulation are the unwise virgins who were
not ready for his coming. They must now endure the savage
testing that is to be their wont in the ensuing years of
tyranny under the power of the Antichrist’s global army. May
God bless those who have to endure this period. If any are
reading this before the Rapture and have not yet come to
know the Lord Jesus, now is your chance to pull back from
the brink of the dark Abyss into which the world will soon
be plunged. Accept the free gift of eternal life made
available to you by the finished work of the shedding of the
blood of Jesus Christ. All you have to do is believe and
ask, and it shall be given. As a born-from-above spirit
filled believer of the church of God and a member of the
Body of Christ, you will indeed be “rescued from the
wrath to come”.
(This is an excerpt from
Patrick’s new eBook which can be downloaded for $5 at his
website: www.neph.ie)